Descartes Human Error Analysis

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An Assessment of Descartes Arguments on Human Error
Human error is a part of being, however for Descartes this poses a problem. Descartes believes in God, a perfect divine being incapable of trickery or deception, which becomes a problem when considering human error (AT 53). If God is a perfect being so how could he have created an imperfect being capable of error? Descartes ponders this concept further in both his Meditations and Principles of Philosophy where he approaches this problem two different ways that have similar conclusions; human error is the product of confusion and privation. In his Meditations and Principles of Philosophy Descartes addresses human error by first considering his relationship to God and how God could create …show more content…
In this section Descartes dualistic account of the mind and body are brought to the surface to consider what causes error rather then the function behind it. Descartes begins by addressing the errors we make in childhood through our inability to separate our mind from the material world, allowing our perceptions of the material world to heavily influence the state of our mind (AT 36). This means that we are only capable of considering what we immediately perceive. Descartes then proceeds to point out that even as we mature and being to separate the mind, the perceptions and prejudices that we form are hard to change, even those that have elements of error attached. Therefore even though the mind is developed we are still bound to falsehoods (AT 37). Descartes then develops these misconceptions and causes of error further by commenting on the human capacity for attention. Descartes argues that it is difficult for us to focus for any significant length of time on something that we cannot immediately perceive; therefore we rely on opinions without justification (AT 37). Descartes appears to be commenting on our inability to separate body from mind, and goes on to say that this will lead to confusion, which we have predetermined, is related to error. Finally Descartes considers the idea of the mind and its expression. Descartes addresses the language we use and how concepts become bound by words and therefore confused. Concepts can no longer be distinctly considered but rather considered in relation to our language (AT

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